by John Glynn | Jul 21, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Some great pics and video have just arrived from Mark at EB Motorsport, who supplied many of the replica Porsche parts used on this Rennsport Porsche 907 recreation build by RMS Porsche in Theix, near Vannes, France.
As a big fan of Brittany, I’ve been to Vannes a few times: wish I’d known RMS were based there. A quick look at the RMS Porsche Facebook page shows some very interesting projects, including running Tom Dillmann at Le Mans in Porsche Carrera Cup France. Anyone into GP2 will know Dillmann: no slouch in a single seater.
Suffice to say that RMS know their stuff on Porsche racing, although this 907 build has me scratching my head a bit. Introduced in 1967, the 907 initially ran a Rennsport 2-litre flat six. Far from being underpowered, it could hit 190mph in a straight line. Porsche then added a 2.2-litre flat eight engine, which took the 907 to Porsche’s first-ever 24-hours win at Daytona in 1968.
Superceded by the 908 later that same year, the 907 was quite a rare build and is not too common in historic racing. One giveaway of the 907 body was the nose, which had a rectangular centre grill with oval slots either side. The 908 went to an oval centre intake with an oval to the left and a mousehole-shaped slot to the right.
This recreation has that mousehole slot in the nose, but obviously does not run a 908 3-litre flat eight engine. The naming may just be as simple as that: 907 can show with a flat six. The replica bodywork looks modelled on Porsche 908K – like Cameron Healy’s 1968 908K (below), which I enjoyed photographing at Rennsport Reunion in 2011.
The RMS guys have also made this video of the first start of their replica. Initially reluctant to fire, it soon gets going and sounds great through the megaphones. I am intrigued to see the car running: no doubt that flat six engine will be making great power and the chassis will weigh next to nothing. Nice job, RMS.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
by John Glynn | Jul 6, 2014 | Race and Rally
Michelin has sent through another great “We Are Racers” video, featuring the Porsche Le Mans highlights from 2014. “We Are Racers” documents Michelin at Le Mans 2014 through a series of motorsports visions, shot with French flair and exploring the drama of race life in the pits, as a team.
Watching the video gave me pangs of withdrawal, and I’m just a Porsche enthusiast writer. Imagine what it’s like for a winning mechanic, a driver or car designer. What must their weeks without Le Mans be like?
I recently watched a great documentary on Gordon Murray: the South African-born racing designer, famous for Brabhams and winning McLarens. For all of his F1 wins (more than 50 in total), Murray maintains that Le Mans is many times more difficult than Formula One when you consider what the car has to go through: an entire F1 season in 24 hours. An old school F1 season, that is.
After 20 years in F1 engineering, Murray retired from the sport to seek out new challenges. Keen to keep Murray’s ability away from the competition, Ron Dennis agreed to Murray establishing the McLaren F1 road car programme. Based around drawings from Murray’s early career, the 1100-kilo, 630 bhp F1 was the ultimate supercar: a zero-compromise driving machine, embodying the design philosophy of individual.
“I said from day one that we should never consider the F1 as a racing car because that would compromise it,” Murray noted. “Inevitably, there were customers who wanted to change that, and the GTR was the result. On its first visit to Le Mans in 1995 it won a historic victory.”
I’ve been up close and personal with a number of McLaren F1s, and they are a very special motor cars. Murray tells how only one day was allowed in the wind tunnel to develop the aerodynamics for the Le Mans McLaren F1. An aero-kitted road car, he gives his only regret as not having driven the winning machine to Le Mans and back.
Years after winning Le Mans with a car of his design, Murray’s passion for La Sarthe remains highly intense. But that winning car never bore his own name. So imagine Ferdinand Porsche in 1970, winning with a car that did have his name. Imagine having a hand in that car’s success: success that would be followed by many more Porsche winners. This is the spirit of “We Are Racers”. Perhaps our next win will come in 2015 – Michelin’s video sets us up for that dream.
by John Glynn | Jun 29, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
America’s Connor de Phillippi was denied a decent result at the Norisring this weekend, when chaos on a wet street course stopped the Californian’s Carrera Cup championship challenge in its tracks. De Phillippi was forced out of both races due to contact.
Both Carrera Cup races held on the exciting street circuit through Hitler’s former Nuremberg parade grounds brought the same face to the top step. Lechner Racing‘s Michael Ammermüller took debut back-to-back Carrera Cup wins in grand style, with a huge lead at the chequered flag in race 2.
I say huge: it was five seconds, but five more seconds separated second through to sixth. Carrera Cup Deutschland is the closest Porsche racing anywhere, so to finish five seconds ahead in these conditions with such strong opposition is super impressive.
First loser in race 2 was Earl Bamber, but the 23 year-old Kiwi who won a €200,000 Porsche Supercup scholarship at the start of 2014 is proving his massive talent every time he takes to the circuit. Starting seventh on the grid, Bamber had a great start, stayed focused and saved his tyres to pull skillful moves on Christian Engelhart and Porsche Junior, Sven Müller towards the finish, and finish second overall.
“It was like go-karts, battling all the way,” said Bamber. The post race video below shows how true that is, as Bamber, Engelhart, Muller and Ammermüller slip and slide on a greasy track within inches of each other. It is great racing and perhaps slightly worrying for Weissach.
Carrera Cup and Supercup is the breeding ground for future works drivers. If the baby-faced Müller can finish P3 in his first wet Carrera Cup race behind an undeniable 911 expert and the prodigious talent of Bamber, where will he racing in twelve months’ time? Weissach’s works squad had better watch out for these Carrera Cup kids: they are easily good enough to challenge for works drives.
Top of the driver’s table now is Konrad Motorsport’s Christopher Zöchling, another rising star. These are all names you will hear much more about! Zöchling leads by two points from Bamber, with De Phillippi a point down in third. Watch this race video from Porsche AG.
![Unemployed Londoner wins Porsche Boxster]()
by John Glynn | Jun 7, 2014 | Porsche News
I’m not a big fan of gambling, but I’m all for good news and irritating the right wing. This superb story has both of the above. Unemployed 52 year-old Londoner, Andrew Boyce, recently returned home in his ageing Ford Escort to find a brand new Porsche Boxster GTS on the drive, won with the money from his benefits.
London Man wins Porsche Boxster with benefit cash
Currently claiming unemployment and sickness allowances, Andrew spent £250 of his benefit payments to buy 50 tickets in a spot-the-ball competition, with top prize of a Porsche Boxster GTS. A few days later, he was met on his driveway by competition MD, William Hindmarch, who presented him with the keys to a brand new Porsche Boxster and a briefcase filled with ten grand in cash. Andrew’s reaction was priceless: “Thank you very much. Would you like a cup of tea?”
The NIMBY press has jumped to attention, running quotes from wound-up locals. One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “It’s sickening that I have to work two jobs to feed my family and that prat is spending my taxes spotting balls.”
Currently not working due to a bad back, Boyce said the comfortable Boxster would ease his spinal pain and people who don’t like his good fortune can choose from a variety of options, most involving rotating on fingers. “I was so happy to win, but it’s frustrating now because people are complaining that I spent benefits on it. What’s it got to do with anyone how I got the money? I got a bit of good fortune and it’s no one’s business how that happened. I’ve gone from rags to riches – I feel like Delboy.”
In sweet coincidence, Boycie from the Del Boy comedy, Only Fools and Horses, was a profit-hungry car trader, so will the new Boycie keep the Boxster or swap it for cash? No doubt it would sell quickly in the Sunday Times. The eagle-eyed among you will notice this is not a Boxster GTS but a regular S model: the GTS is not out yet but the competition company – which counts ex-F1 driver David Coulthard amongst its backers – still had a video to make.
And here is the video. Am I right in thinking Boyce initially denies who he is to the camera crew until he spots the Boxster? No doubt his ease in occupying the sports car’s low seats will catch the eye of his social security claim manager.
Congratulations, Andrew: see if you can get onto Question Time with this. If the powers that be decide you are entitled, then spend your money how you will. Just don’t come crying for more when it’s gone.
The legitimacy of marketing gambling competitions to people surviving on benefits is a different argument, but thankfully Britain is theoretically STILL A FREE COUNTRY. How true that might be, is a whole other argument.
![Unemployed Londoner wins Porsche Boxster]()
by John Glynn | Jun 4, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
“Le Mans in a way is what drives us all. It’s the hardest race: night, day, hot, dirty. It’s one race, one year and one winner.” So said Tom Kristensen in 2013, at the start of a great short documentary by Michelin called “24 Hours: A Matter of Seconds.”
Made in conjunction with Audi, the video followed the team through the full 2014 Le Mans, a gripping race (which we blogged live on Ferdinand), when the lead Audi lost 45 minutes due to an electrical problem, leaving only one Audi car in contention for the win. Fending off a strong race-long challenge from the Toyotas, Kristensen’s Audi took the chequered flag after 24 hours of racing.
This made it nine wins for Kristensen at Le Mans: an all-time driver record. Porsche has gone to the next level: taking outright victory at Le Mans 16 times. But motorsport is a team effort, and racing cars are nothing without good rubber. Michelin tyres have claimed a mighty 22 Le Mans wins. I’m surprised that no one at Michelin has worked out how many miles that would be, driven at 200 mph or more, but no doubt that Michelin is a premier motorsport competitor and no doubt it cares about winning.
This year, Michelin’s Le Mans videos focus on Porsche. The latest video, “We Are Racers” – which Michelin has kindly allowed Ferdinand to share ahead of its official release – is challenging at first watch but it grows on you. No surprise to see Webber given headline billing as first driver on camera, followed by Hartley and then Marco Holzer, but the star of the show is Vincent Barthe.
Over a dramatic jazz soundtrack, tyre tech Monsieur Barthe is credited as Porsche’s ‘rain master’, delivering the 911s safely through torrential rain to victory at Silverstone and helping the 919 LMP1 hybrid to claim a podium first time out. “The battle isn’t just between the racers,” says Barthe. “You have to fight the weather too: you have to beat it. I used to be a sailor, so I don’t mind challenging weather conditions.”
I subscribe to Michelin’s motorsport feed on Youtube as I enjoy the authenticity of their motorsport videos. No hard sell on “race tyres driving road tyre development”, no deep voice-overs or blockbuster soundtrack, just a real racer’s grasp of the spirit of motorsport, and plenty of slow motion footage, showing what the tyres endure through the toughest of corners.
“I don’t want to see how tortured the tyres look at full speed through Eau Rouge and Raidillon,” said Audi’s Allan McNish at Spa last year, when Michelin brought the first-ever SLICK wet tyre to the party. Who knows what they’ll have for P0rsche at Le Mans 2014? We’ll enjoy watching. Here is “We Are Racers”.
